Morgan Freeman gives President Obama a fat check

Meagan Morris is an entertainment and lifestyle journalist living in New York City. In addition to SheKnows, Morris contributes to many publications including The New York Times, Yahoo! News, PopEater, NBC New York and Spinner. Follow he...

Morgan Freeman gives $1M to super PAC

Morgan Freeman is putting his money where his political views are: He just donated $1 million to a political action committee for President Obama's re-election campaign.

The Dark Knight Risesactor Morgan Freeman might not think President Barack Obama is the United States' first black president, but that doesn't mean he doesn't support him.

In June, Freeman, 74, donated $1 million to Priorities USA Action, a political "super PAC" that supports President Obama's re-election campaign. Producer Jeffrey Katzenberg helped found the group in 2011 with a $2 million donation and Chelsea Handler, producer/writer J.J. Abrams and Steven Spielberg are also backers.

"President Obama has done a remarkable job in terrible circumstances," the veteran actor said in a statement. "He has ended combat operations in Iraq, put in place sensible reforms of Wall Street, saved the auto industry and protected the healthcare of every American with a pre-existing condition. He has recognized the full equality of all our brothers and sisters and placed impressive, accomplished women on the Supreme Court. In return for this he is being targeted by hundreds of millions of dollars in special-interest money. I for one am proud to lend my voice — and support — to those who defend him."

The team behind Priorities USA Action couldn't say enough nice things about Freeman, either. Paul Begala, a senior advisor to Priorities USA Action, said that Freeman is "a national treasure" and the group is "honored that he has lent his powerful voice to our cause."

The donation comes just weeks after Freeman caused a bit of controversy in Hollywood by saying that Obama isn't really "black" because his mother was white.

"First thing that always pops into my head regarding our president,” he said “is that all of the people who are setting up this [racial] barrier for him ... they just conveniently forget that Barack had a mama, and she was white — very white American, Kansas, middle of America," he told NPR in June. "There was no argument about who he is or what he is. America's first black president hasn't arisen yet. He's not America's first black president, he's America's first mixed-race president."

Freeman is an equal-opportunity offender, though: He then went on to blast the GOP for not working with President Obama on key issues, saying that he "is being purposely, purposely thwarted by the Republican Party, who started out at the beginning of his tenure by saying, 'We are going to do whatever is necessary to make sure that he's only going to serve one term.'"